Get GLOWING?

["Big Guy"]

Okay folks, I don't know about you, but I'm tired of people not seeing me on the road at night!

I'm gonna get GLOWING!

One of my businesses is LED Signs, and after seeing all the kids out there with the under glow on their cars, I decided to contact my supplier overseas and request a special product from them - weatherproof printed circuit LED strips.

I know there are tons of LED kits out there for bikes, and even many sellers at the bike shows, but the problem is, unless it's a sealed tube strip (like they use on cars), it isn't waterproof, no matter what the seller says. Scoots and cycles cannot use the large flex strips that the cars use.

My supplier recently sent me a sample of the product for testing on my scoot and I will report back here with the results and post some pics.

The sample I requested is blue to match my scoot, and yes, I know, you can't use blue lights in Louisiana, but I know all the cops here, and they won't pull me over for anything other than chit-chat.

I like the fact that each LED uses only .5 watts of power, so using the LEDs on the scoot should be no problem at all.

If all works out okay, I'll make a kit available to Lee for review... if he wants it.

["Big Guy"]

Here is a picture of the custom parts:

[fulltimerart]

That looks neat! Keep us posted, Dulci would like some of those---Youre right, you can never have too many lights. Art

["Big Guy"]

I'm sure I will have left overs from the sample run they sent me!

What I want to do is get them installed and see what happens to the volt meter. I think about 18 of these will do the whole bottom of the scoot, and at 1/2 watt each, that's only 9 watts total; it should be just fine... I think.

["Big Guy"]

Well I had to take out my instrument cluster tonight to send it back due to a bad speedo, and while I had the tools out, I decided to test the LEDs.

I wound up installing 9 LEDs per strip, 2 strips under the front cowling, 2 under the floor board and 2 under the rear cowling. I did a temporary hook up to the battery, fired 'er up and checked the voltage gauge.

It was flashing under voltage for about 4 seconds, and then, as the scoot leveled out it's idle, it went to 12.9... Perfect! I had the radio on high, the high beams and 4 way flashers, and still, 12.9. A little rev put it over 13.

I'm waiting on my new Euro windshield which will be here this Thursday, and of course, I have to wait on the new instrument cluster, but once all is in, I'll post some pictures of the finished LED project.

I did notice something very out of the ordinary when playing with the electrical system tonight: Trying to wire the LEDs to the instrument lights would not work!

The bulbs have a green and brown wire running to them, and when I put the meter on the 2 wires it read 12.5, but if I wired the black and red from the LEDs to it, nothing... very strange.

[glowguy]

I had no problem applying a flex strip of blue LEDs to the underside of my scoot. I even have a blue toggle switch (w/blue led to light it up) located just under the seat between my legs where I can reach down and turn on the underglow, or off if I am concerned about drawing the attention of cops. I got mine from oznium.com
After I installed the LEDs, I started doing some internet searching on lights, etc. That is when I found out that it might be illegal *depending on local jurisdictions and local restrictions etc. So that put a hold on my other plan which was to install Electroluminescent wire around the whole scoot. I still might go ahead and do that as I have already ordered the wire and most cops are going to be at least understanding when you explain that it is really just a safety thing rather than a "look at how cool I am on my scoot" thing.
EL wire is basically a thin copper wire covered in phosphorus with two hair thin wires outside of that then covered in a colored plastic coating. Send an alternating current between the wires and the phos. lights up like neon. It is what is on my hat and mask for my avatar image. It uses very little energy and has a high "wow" factor. Check out www.coolight.com for more info.

[T W I S T E R]

250mc54 said:

Here is a picture of the custom parts:

should make em free to all of us for market research. I would love to be riding down the street on a warm summer eve with my underbelly aglow with color. all the chicks agasp and envious wanting me to glow their belly also. ;D

[conceptzrqt]

Here are some pics of what we can do to help out with lighting. I posted before about some of the LED stuff we do at the
electricalconnection.com

www.electricalconnection.com/custom-shop/custom-strada.htm

We are working on other things as well but for now this might help.


Todd

[natefromogden]

For my Morphous, I'm just finishing up replacing the turn signal only, single pole base lights to LED bulbs and double pole bases in the rear lights on each side of the trunk. Stock there was simply a orange turn signal light under those big lenses. Now I'll have red tail lights lit all the time as well as turn signals. I'm waiting on some load resistors to arrive and then I'll button everything up and take some pictures.

But, whatever it takes, we all ride so close to the ground that whatever extra lighting we can generate to alert the less aware folks around us is a good thing. I'd consider LED strips under my scoot for the safety and visual affects later on.

[savage223]

Thanks for posting this!

If mine ever gets fixed, I have plans for LED replacements for tail lights, and some running lights under and down the sides of the front cowling/fairing.

I plan on using disposable tin cups and clear potting compound, after forming a foam "dome" to insert my loose LED's into. (This will make the directional super-bright LED's visible from as many angles as possible.)

I never did get the answer to this question: The electric circuit is DC, right?

["Big Guy"]

Well guys and gals, in a casual conversation with my supplier (I'm in the LED Sign business) they brought up their 3 MILLION color LED flex tubes and I was hooked! I pulled off the flex strips with some great effort and got my sample kit from them the other day... wow are these cool!

I'm a couple days away from getting my new instrument cluster, installing the new windshield, shaving the seat and some other mods before getting it back on the road, but I will post all the pictures when I'm done.

I can't wait to get back on the road! My cage is killing me with the every day commute!